I wonder if one of the Encore guys can provide some information about travel benefits.

My wife is moving to Europe. life complications

Is it possible to fly 3-4 pairings solid and have the rest of the month free? seniority - yes.. but how about first year as an FO ?

Also - what would you pay when getting on board the 76 STBY going to London for example. taxes only?

And last: can you fly at a discounted rates with other WJ partner airlines.

THANK YOU!!

Sorry to hear about your complications.
Calgary to London Gatwick for tomorrow, 60 bucks for standby, 98 for confirmed, with employee pricing at WestJet.
Your interline benefits starts after being here 6 months.
Our bidding system is NOT seniority based. You bid what you want, from when you are cut loose on the line, and a computer software tries to give everybody what they want. It’s called a satisfaction score, and it’s usually in the high 80s %. There’s always a loser, but I get a bad month maybe once every 6 months. Usually get what I want.
You definitely won’t be the first person in our company to commute from Europe. It will be hard at first, until you hit the 6 month mark. And you will spend most of your time on the road. The easiest international employee travel for work is the US. But I’ve seen a few from Europe.
Good luck.

Encore works 20 days a month max, not 23 as previously posted. The avg days off per month for FO's on the last bid was 14 days/month and 12 days for Captains. Seniority is irrelevant as previously mentioned. Flying WJ to and from Europe can be tricky as the loads are pretty high. But with all the reciprocal Jumpseat there should be a way.

Encore works 20 days a month max, not 23 as previously posted. The avg days off per month for FO's on the last bid was 14 days/month and 12 days for Captains. Seniority is irrelevant as previously mentioned. Flying WJ to and from Europe can be tricky as the loads are pretty high. But with all the reciprocal Jumpseat there should be a way.

It is 18 days max, and you will be scheduled for 18 days. They won't schedule you more than 6 days of work in a row. So, at best, you're looking at 10-11 days off in a row IF your schedule worked out perfectly, which it probably won't.

This is a very difficult commuting job ... you'll burn yourself out doing it back and forth between London and Calgary... There are other jobs out there that will be much easier and better paying for your situation.

---------- ADS -----------

In twenty years time when your kids ask how you got into flying you want to be able to say "work and determination" not "I just kept taking money from your grandparents for type ratings until someone was stupid enough to give me a job"

As someone who commuted from the US to Encore, I would not recommend trying to commute from Europe on the Encore schedule. Living in base or a short commute is definitely manageable with the Encore schedule, but commuting to a difference country was quite hard.

A couple points:

The fees and taxes on employee standby with WJ do add up. For example, the Gatwick-Calgary leg has $160 or so worth of fees and taxes. Don't get me wrong, still pretty great for a trans-Atlantic flight, but doing that a couple times a month just to go to work adds up.

The non-seniority part of the Encore schedule cannot be stressed enough. It gets very hard to be able to get a schedule that works really well for commuting. You may have some months that work great, but you'll also have some months where you don't get your days off grouped together. For example, this was a month that I had even though I was bidding for commutable pairings: A 4 day pairing, 2 days off, a 6 day pairing that ends late at night, 3 days off, a 4 day pairing, 3 days off, a 1 day pairing, 1 day off, a 3 day pairing, and then 4 days off. Pretty hard to get home and actually feel rested. Again, on the surface that's not that bad a schedule overall especially if you live in base, but for commuting purposes, it was very challenging.

Add in the fact that right now there's only one Gatwick flight a day (from each of the Canadian Destinations) so if you do get bumped, you'll have challenges. Loads tend to be high and the trans-Atlantic flight is a red-eye.

It is 18 days max, and you will be scheduled for 18 days. They won't schedule you more than 6 days of work in a row. So, at best, you're looking at 10-11 days off in a row IF your schedule worked out perfectly, which it probably won't.

23 days is what I've been told.

Is it true that Encore does not consider getting you home up to 03:59 the morning of your day off to be working that day?

Whoever told you that was incorrect. Contract outlines its 18 days max. But make no mistake, most pilots are getting the full 18 days scheduled. And if, like the OP, you're trying to commute from Europe, there will definitely be a few days each month where you need to come in the day before your pairing starts or you can't get out til the day after your pairing ends.

Is it true that Encore does not consider getting you home up to 03:59 the morning of your day off to be working that day?

Overtime kicks in after 3am. However, the few times that IROPs caused delays, they weren't trying to get us back in the wee hours of the morning, they just put us up at a hotel in the destination and we flew out the next day getting OT. Not saying it would never be an issue, but they're not scheduling pairings that finish at 2:57am - things have to have gone really sideways if you're even in the ballpark where this becomes an issue.

While the administrators and moderators of this
forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as
quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. If you feel a
topic or post is inappropriate email us at
avcanada@gmail.com . By reading these forums you acknowledge that
all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author and
not the administrators, moderators or webmaster (except for posts by these
people) and hence will not be held liable. This website is not responsible or liable in any way for any false or misleading messages or job ads placed at our site.

Use AvCanada's information at your own risk!

We reserve the right to remove any messages that we deem unacceptable.
When you post a message, your IP is logged and may be provided to concerned parties where unethical or illegal
behavior is apparent.
All rights reserved.